The Third Man Effect
by Isis123
Summary: When a team-bonding trip goes wrong, Rachel must depend on Santana to hold on. Pezberry friendship. Inspired by the Higher Ground episode "What Remains"  1x06 . Rated T for language.


Title: The Third Man Factor

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Summary: When a team-bonding trip goes wrong, Rachel must depend on Santana to hold on. Pezberry friendship.

A/N: The following story was inspired by the Higher Ground episode "What Remains" (1x06). Most of the dialogue is from the show. Special thanks to hartzwatergirl from the hg_mt_horizon livejournal community for transcribing all the episodes and putting them online - You allow me to reminisce.

Also, my apologies to people reading my "The Planets Aligned…" fanfic. I was going to work on it today, but this idea was eating away at me so I had to get it out.

* * *

><p>The McKinley glee club was currently sitting in a cabin listening to Park Ranger Frank Diggs discuss hiking and wilderness safety. None of the teens in the crowd were excited to be embarking on a long hike this February morning and they made no effort to hide the contempt from their young faces.<p>

After tying at Sectionals with the Warblers, the kids' spirits had been rather low. Will Schuester decided that the team needed to be reinvigorated. After filling Shannon Beiste and Emma Pillsbury in on his predicament, the football coach suggested exposing the kids to some exercise and fresh air; Emma agreed. Beiste told Will that her brother-in-law was a park ranger at Cuyahoga Valley and that it was an excellent place for a day hike. The choir director looked into it and found that Cuyahoga was just three hours outside Lima and that there were over 125 miles of hiking trails to choose from. He thought it would make for the perfect weekend getaway.

He broke the news to the teenagers at the end of Monday's practice and was met with little fanfare. After five minutes of listening to their non-stop complaints, Schuester finally put his foot down.

"Enough! It's team-bonding people. It's not optional. I expect these permission slips signed and returned by Wednesday's practice."

The kids had done as told, even Artie. The boy however was not in the cabin; his grandmother had passed away on Thursday evening so while the ranger was speaking to his teammates, Artie was sitting in a church listening to a eulogy.

By 10 AM on Saturday morning the ten remaining New Directions and their two chaperones, Schuester and Beiste, were suited up and ready to begin the imposed group bonding session.

"Is that Sanni Lopez?" an old voice called out. The teenagers turned and stared at the girl in question. Puck caught her eye and mouthed "Sanni" with an amused look on his face. The girl merely shook her head in embarrassment and tried to shield her face with an open palm.

Ranger Gerry Tamer had worked at the park for over twenty years. The gray haired man mostly did paper work these days, but he enjoyed appreciating the woods whenever the weather was good and his knee wasn't acting up. The old man hobbled up to the teenager and gave her a big smile.

"Sanni Lopez! It is you."

"Hi, Mr. Tamer," she begrudgingly replied.

Gerry wrapped the girl in a hug and then held her in front of him with two out stretched arms while he inspected the young lady. "Sanni, look at you. You get bigger and prettier every time I see you. How're your folks?"

Santana decided that the only way to get through this was to answer the man's questions as quickly as possible. "They're good."

"So what brings you by my neck of the woods?" He asked, laughing at his own joke.

"School field trip," Santana saw Mr. Schuester approach the two and tried to make her escape, "Uh this is my teacher Mr. Schuester. Mr. Schuester, this is Ranger Gerry Tamer."

"Nice to meet you," the choir director said with an outstretched hand, which Gerry shook respectfully.

"Likewise."

"So how do you know Santana?" Will asked. The cheerleader was currently trapped under the older man's arm, which was draped around her shoulder. The rest of the singers were eagerly listening to Gerry's explanation.

"Oh, Sanni and I go way back. She's been coming here since she was in diapers. Girl knows these woods better than most of my colleagues." Santana did her best to control her blush.

"Yeah, my dad likes nature and stuff," Santana muttered. Hoping to stem the damage to her HBIC rep, the teenager reminded her chaperones that they were wasting daylight.

"She's right," Shannon said.

"Well don't let me hold you up. It was great seeing you, Sanni," Gerry smiled sincerely. "Don't worry, Will," he added, "you're in good hands." The man emphasized his statement with a sweet squeeze to Santana's shoulder.

With the ranger gone, Beiste took the lead. "This is a day hike, guys. Just up and back," she spoke from her position upfront. "Unless you want to be coming down in the dark, I'd keep up pace."

* * *

><p>Two hours into their walk and an hour after they had gone off the beaten path, Will felt a small hand grab his arm.<p>

"I don't think I can do this today," Rachel groaned.

The director rolled his eyes, "Rachel, you were fine five minutes ago." Ever since her little duct tape stunt the Spanish teacher had been rather terse with the club's resident diva. Rachel hadn't been fine five minutes ago. She'd been feeling rather terrible for over a week, but she had tried to push through it. However, as the hike dragged on the worse she felt and eventually she decided that she needed help.

"Well, I'm not fine now," she huffed.

"Did you eat breakfast?" he asked deciding to humor her.

"No."

"Well, you're body's probably telling you that you need energy, take a granola bar out of my pack."

"I'm not hungry," she replied.

"You look kind of pale," Tina offered, having overheard the two.

"It's stomach cramps," the peaked girl explained. She could almost feel the teacher's disbelief and tried to defend herself, "I'm not faking."

"Okay," Will relented, "Santana, I want you to take Rachel back down to the cabin. They have a first aid station there."

Hoping to get out of the hiking trip as well, Puck gave it a try, "You know, I have this shooting pain-" A glare from his teacher stopped him from continuing.

Santana was pressing through the thick forest at a pace too fast for her sick companion to keep up.

"Hey, what's our hurry?"

Santana turned and glared at her, "I have better things to do, things that do not involved getting sucked into the Rachel Berry show." When Schuester had instructed her to lead Rachel back to the main cabin, Santana had been in the middle of an important conversation with Brittany. The ditzy dancer was asking her best friend her thoughts on rekindling her relationship with Artie. Santana was doing her best to convince the blonde that Artie just wasn't the right person for her. _Santana was the right person for her._

Rachel frowned, "I'm really not feeling well."

"Then let's get you to the cabin." Santana took several steps before she realized that no one was following. She spun to look back and found the soprano resting on a fallen trunk. "Come on, Rachel."

The short brunette shook her head.

"I can't do this right now. Santana, I'm really sick."

"Do you want me to go and get help?"

"Do whatever you want," Rachel mumbled with her head between her legs.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Take it however you want it," the girl replied roughly.

"All right. Just stay put. Wait by that tree and don't move." When Rachel didn't acknowledge the command, Santana added, "Got it?"

"I got it."

"I'll be right back." With that the cheerleader was gone and Rachel was alone with her thoughts.

Hoping to relieve the pain in her abdomen, the teenager got up and tried walking around while massaging her lower back. As she did so her mind wandered over the past few weeks. She found out Finn lied about having sex with Santana, Mr. Schuester had given away two of her solos, Finn had officially broken up with her, and, most recently, her biological mother had purposely - and rather obviously - ignored her when they ran into each other at the grocery store a few days ago. The last incident hurt the most. Not only was Shelby back in town, the woman wouldn't even acknowledge her in public. Rachel was too wrapped up in her thoughts to realize she had ventured dangerously close to the ridge's edge. She continued her unfocused strides when suddenly her world was spiraling around her. The singer violently slid and toppled over foliage, stones, and twigs, her skin catching on the sharp debris. Just when she thought her fall was coming to an end, she experienced a severe plunge, landing on hard, solid earth.

The sudden stop left Rachel with a distal radius fracture, more commonly known as a broken wrist, and a large gash running from her eyebrow to her ear. Luckily, the fall also caused the girl to lose consciousness; postponing the moment she would have to deal with her pain.

* * *

><p>"Rachel!" Ranger Gerry called out. When he didn't get a reply, he looked at Santana, "Are you sure you left her here?"<p>

"Yes," the cheerleader said uncertainly. "I'm not sure. I don't know. I…I thought it was. I…I thought I passed right down there."

When Santana had returned to the spot an hour ago with Gerry she had been horrified to find it empty. After thirty minutes of searching, Gerry radioed the cabin for backup. One ranger stayed with Gerry and Santana to help look for Rachel while Frank went ahead to find his sister-in-law's group to let the woman know what had happened.

"Did you take your bearings off anything?" Gerry asked. Santana shook her head side to side guiltily.

"How was she acting?" he continued.

"She was upset."

"About?"

"Things. Her stomach, having to walk...Why didn't she just listen to me?" It was no secret that Santana was not Rachel's biggest fan, but that didn't mean she wanted the girl dead. If anything happened to the diva, Santana would never forgive herself.

"She might have been abducted. Did you see or hear anyone around here?" Ashley, another Ranger, at least fifteen years younger than Gerry vocalized. Again, Santana shook her head no.

"Doesn't mean they weren't here," the young man said.

"Doesn't mean they were," Gerry replied after seeing Santana's face fall.

Another grim possibility was offered by Ashley, "Bear or mountain lion might have dragged her off. 's happened before."

"Ash, let's just assume for now she wandered off."

"I should have listened to her," Santana said near tears, "tried to carry her or something."

Gerry put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "You did the right thing going for help."

* * *

><p>Frank caught up with the group from McKinley High about twenty minutes after he and Ashley had found Gerry and Santana. When Beiste saw the man's grim features she immediately asked what was wrong.<p>

"We can't find Rachel," he spoke honestly. Will Schuester felt like his world had just stopped spinning. He had lost a child. He had lost somebody's only child. He had lost somebody's only child in the woods.

"You're kidding, right?" Puck asked, his brow furrowing. Frank let him know he wasn't.

"She wasn't feeling well so Santana went to get help. She was gone when they returned."

"What…what do you mean you can't find her? She just vanished?" Will stuttered.

"We doubt she could have gone far, but sun'll be going down soon and we can't keep searching for her in the dark. It's too dangerous. I'm gonna take you guys back to the cabin. Hopefully Gerry's found her by now and she'll be down there when we get back. If not will resume the search first thing in the morning."

"I'm staying," Puck announced without hesitation. There was no way in hell he was going to leave his friend alone on a mountain. His declaration, spurred similar responses from the rest of the kids.

"Me too," Tina said.

"I'm not leaving without her."

"Yeah, me too."

"Yeah, I'll hang out," Lauren agreed.

"No. We're all going down together," Frank stated firmly.

Beiste tried to help her relative out by reassuring the teens, "Rachel knows to stay close, guys. Frank went over forest safety with us all this morning."

"She's gonna freak out there," Puck argued. "She won't remember a thing."

"We're all going down," Frank told them. "Now come on." The New Directions resistantly followed.

* * *

><p>When Rachel finally came to, the sun was starting to set and the little light that entered the cave was diminishing quickly.<p>

"Finally. I was getting bored watching your ass sleep," an annoyed, familiar voice startled the girl on the ground.

"Santana?" Rachel squinted.

"No, it's the Easter bunny," the older teen replied sarcastically.

"Why are you wearing your cheerleading uniform?" Rachel asked once her vision had cleared.

" 'Cuz I look good in it," the girl answered; her tone indicated that she thought it was a stupid question.

Without moving from her sport, the injured singer asked, "Where are we?"

"In a cave."

"What happened?"

"You fell off a cliff, moron." Rachel made to push herself up so she could take a look around and hopefully find away out. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Santana warned.

Rachel hissed in pain when she put pressure on her left hand, her broken wrist not appreciating the weight.

"Told you so."

Rachel's vision went white due to the pain and her stomach recoiled. As she dry heaved, she heard Santana comment on how completely gross she was.

Once her stomach settled and she took some steadying breaths, Rachel carefully stood up, making sure not to use her arm, and began to see if there was any means of escape.

The opening she had fallen through – the only opening in the cave - was six feet high above her head and the walls of the dirty cavern were bare. Rachel came to the painfully frightening realization that she was trapped.

* * *

><p>Will, Shannon, Gerry, Ashley, and Frank were gathered around the cabin lobby's main table where a large map of Cuyahoga Valley was stretched out. "There's a canyon there and a canyon there and a river to the north," Gerry pointed to each geographical feature as he spoke, "She couldn't have wandered off far."<p>

"Unless she fell or got dragged off by a wild animal," Ashley reminded him.

"Ash, enough of the lions-and-bears thing," Gerry said.

"Yeah, how about a glimmer of hope here?" Frank added.

"Hey, Parks department's got a new trainer in our field office. She's supposed to be an expert on tracking. How's that for a glimmer?" Ashley replied.

"Call her," Gerry ordered.

* * *

><p>"Hello! Anybody! Help!"<p>

Rachel had been screaming for what felt like hours, hoping someone would find her.

"Oh my god, just give it a rest already," Santana said from her spot on the floor. "You're giving me a headache."

"I need to get out of here." Rachel glanced at the teen and saw her staring at her cuticles. Rachel wished she could cross her arms to express her anger. "You could at least pretend to help."

Santana looked at her and shrugged, "Here's some helpful commentary: you look like shit." It was true. The tumble down the ridge had left Rachel with several minor cuts all over her arms and legs and, thanks to Rachel's head wound, the lower left side of her face and neck was bloody and rather filthy due to the cave floor. Her wrist was swollen and crooked and her complexion was even more ashen than it had been earlier.

"I don't feel very well," Rachel admitted. She looked at Santana, hoping the girl would have some suggestions, but she found that the cheerleader was focused on something else.

"Did you hear that?" Santana asked excitedly.

"Hear what?"

"I think I heard someone." Rachel swiveled her head quickly to the high opening of the cave.

"Rachel!" A voice called.

"In here!" Rachel screamed happily, "I'm in here!"

"Rachel!" the voice cried again.

"Over here!" Santana began to laugh hysterically.

Rachel looked at her companion. "What's so funny?" Instead of answer Santana simply cuffed her hands around her mouth and shouted Rachel's name. The lost girl realized that no one was out there. It was merely Santana fooling around.

* * *

><p>As the adults spoke in the next room, the glee club perched themselves upstairs on the couch and various chairs and ottomans.<p>

"Man this sucks," Lauren said; most of the teenagers to nod in agreement.

"So she didn't say anything to you?" Puck asked Santana who was seated furthest away from the group.

"Not much," Santana replied dejectedly.

"So where was her head at?" the Mohawk teen pried.

"Yeah. Was she like 'Rachel whiney' or 'Rachel pissed?'" Mike inquired. The comment earned him a smack across the back of his head from his girlfriend.

"What did you do that for?" the Asian boy said as he rubbed the effected area.

"Don't make fun of her, especially now," Tina reprimanded him.

"I wasn't," Mike said sincerely. "Knowing her mood of the moment is part of the clue here." The lanky teen went back to questioning Santana, "Now, was she pouting or was she whining?"

"Both."

"Not Good," Mercedes commented.

"Ash says she could have been abducted," Santana informed them.

"That's great," Sam grumbled, "So some hillbilly with a rifle rack makes off with her?"

"Nobody took her, all right?" Finn snapped, not appreciating the images forming in his head. "Nobody was up there except us."

"Hey, how about we cut the gloom and doom, campers?" Quinn stated nonchalantly. The blonde cheerleading captain was not happy that her boyfriend was so concerned about his ex and reminded them of Rachel's spot-light seeking behavior, "Look, we all know Rachel is a drama queen who loves lapping up attention. My guess is that she's gone into seclusion until it's time for her to make her grand re-entrance."

While the majority of the club frowned at her comment, one angry member responded with a, "Fuck you." With that, Santana abandoned the teenagers and decided to go downstairs to hear what the adults were planning.

* * *

><p>Back in the forest, Rachel was rocking back and forth on the cave floor.<p>

"What's wrong with you?" the cheerleader in the cave asked unconcerned.

The shaking girl frowned, "I'm freezing."

"That's weird 'cuz I'm nice and warm over here."

"Can you stop talking, I just want to sleep."

"No can do." Santana's annoyingly chipper voice had Rachel's eyes snapping open. "Plus, you have a concussion, you sleep now and you might not wake up. On second thought, yeah go to sleep." Not wanting to give the other occupant the satisfaction, the sick and injured diva stood up and focused on staying awake.

* * *

><p>The following morning the mission to find the missing girl was implemented.<p>

"She's got to be out here somewhere. If she is, I'll have her back by lunch," Sarah Danes, the Park department's tracker, said confidently.

"I can't imagine what's going through her mind right now," Beiste said from her position at the door. A few minutes later the woman saw a truck pull up outside the cabin. Before she could greet the two men, Santana shot up from her seat and met the newcomers outside.

"Which one of you is search and which one's rescue?" she demanded.

"I'm Aaron Reifel," a man with auburn hair told her. "This is Hank Farris."

"Aren't you a little young for a smoky suit, Hank?" Santana snapped. She was not pleased that some kid had been sent out to locate her teammate.

Hank ignored the jab and asked, "Where's Tamer?"

"He's inside. I'll show you." Once inside, Search and Rescue, along with the other adults in the cabin began to go over the case.

"She was last seen approximately here," Ash told them.

"I saw her last. I'm not exactly sure where I left her," the guilt-ridden Latina admitted. Hank realized why he had received such a cold welcome when he arrived.

"Can you at least get close to where you split up?" Sarah Danes asked.

"Yes."

"That's all I'll need," the tall blonde assured her, "I'll get a bead on her from there."

"Hope you're right," Ash said.

"Finding her is the easy part," Sarah said. "You see, the rock platform contains pockets of limestone, and water channels turn those into sinkholes," she indicated on the map, "We might not find her above ground."

While the New Directions, Will, and Beiste waited impatiently at the cabin, Gerry, Danes, Tamer, Frank, Reifel, Farris, along with Santana, who insisted that she should be allowed to go due to the fact that she had seen the girl last and that she knew these woods like the back of her hand, set out to locate Rachel.

The rescue party had split up into two teams of two and one team of thee. The search had gone on for hours and Santana was quickly loosing hope. She kept thinking that the girl was lying dead in a ditch somewhere and that they were never going to find her.

* * *

><p>In the dank cave Rachel was lying down on the floor drifting in and out of consciousness.<p>

"Rachel! Rachel!" far away voices called.

Rachel opened one eye and saw Santana staring at her.

"You're not gonna answer them?"

She closed her eye and sighed, "Why bother?"

"Uh to get out of this dump? Duh," the young woman in the cheerleading uniform replied.

"It's just a figment of my imagination," Rachel explained, "Like you."

"Aw. I'm hurt," her companion feigned.

"Just go away, Santana."

The voices called out again, "Rachel! Rachel are you out there!"

"You should answer them," the cheerleader told her.

"I've answered them a thousand times and each time you laugh and say just kidding. So no I'm not going to answer them. No more." The girl sounded broken.

"I was just joking around before. Jeez. Somebody's a little oversensitive," the girl mumbled loudly.

"Rachel!" the voices sounded closer.

Santana stood up and put her hands on her hips. "So you're just gonna lie here? Die in a cave?"

"Just go away," the injured teen mewled.

"Nope," Santana said stubbornly. "Not until you answer them."

"Rachel!" Sarah Danes and Hank Farris called out. "Rachel!"

"I'm tired, Santana," Rachel told her softly. When she didn't get a reply she opened her eyes and saw the angry Latina glaring at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'm exhausted."

"Poor baby," Santana voiced unsympathetically.

"Why are you in my face?" Rachel complained.

"Because I take joy in provoking people," the other girl responded without missing a beat.

"Rachel! Rachel!" The voices were closer than before.

"I'm just so tired," the missing girl said, closing her eyes once more.

"Answer them!" Santana demanded.

"Leave me alone," Rachel begged softly, "Please, just go away."

"Get up. Get up. Get up!" The teenager insisted.

"Rachel!"

"Hello! Yentl! Broadway remember?" Santana tried rousing her.

"I'm sorry, Santana, I'm just…I just wanna go to sleep," the girl had no more fight left in her.

"Rachel!" The call wasn't as close as it been a couple of minutes ago.

"They're going farther away!" the sultry singer warned. Rachel made no move to stop them. "You need to get up! Let them know you're here!" Still, the bloody girl refused to respond, certain that the voices were in her head, just like all the other times over the past 12 hours. "Get up!"

"Rachel!" the two cries were even lower than before.

"Dammit, Man hands! Say something!" Rachel shook her head, tears falling off to the side of her face."Don't give up! Come on! Slushy facials, pornographic drawings, hateful wall posts, Shelby? You don't quit! Don't quit now!

"Rachel!" The call was barely audible.

Santana lied down right next to the soprano so that they were eye to eye. "Please, Rachel, just one more time. Please." She slipped her hand into Rachel's and squeezed. "Don't give up yet."

"I'm here," Rachel yelled out. "I'm over here!"

"Rachel!" Sarah Danes replied, her voice still far away.

"Again," Santana demanded.

"Over here!" The singer screamed. "I'm over here!"

"Rachel!" Sarah's voice was much closer now.

"Here! In here!"

"Rachel!" the voice reverberated through the cave. Sarah Danes face poked through the opening and her face broke out into a smile. "I found her!"

"Santana?" Rachel looked around not seeing the girl who had kept her going all this time.

Thinking Rachel had just made a mistake, the older woman let her know who she was. "My name's Sarah Danes. I'm a Park Ranger." Sarah gaged the distance from the ground to the opening and decided that she would quickly set up a rope-pulley system around a nearby tree so that she could safely jump down and joined the girl.

"Danes, you found her?" Hank's voice shouted from a few yards away.

"Ya," she replied. Her partner arrived quickly and helped lower the woman down. Once inside Hank asked how the teenager was.

"She's got a gash above her left ear and I think her wrist is broken." Rachel had watched the blonde enter the cave in awe, still not sure if what she was seeing was real or simply another trick her concussed mind was playing on her. Seeing the tear tracks down her grumy face Sarah wrapped her arms around her. "I got ya. Don't worry. I got ya."

"Okay, just stay put," Hank said. "I'm gonna radio the others." Sarah nodded. When she looked back down at Rachel she saw that the girl was drifting off.

"Hey, hey Rachel," Sarah shook her gently, "Stay awake just a bit longer."

"Santana's okay?" Rachel asked faintly.

"Yeah, Santana's fine," Danes assured her. "I think you getting lost has her a bit shaken up," the blonde joked. "But she's okay. She's out here looking for you."

Despite the woman's efforts to reassure her, the brunette again asked, "Santana's okay," although her voice was even lower than before.

Sarah frowned, "She's okay, but I think you have a concussion."

"Yeah?" Rachel replied dreamily.

"Yeah, but don't worry the we're gonna get you out of here real soon." Rachel smiled and closed her eyes. "No no no, come on, Rachel, just keep your eye's open." They remained closed.

* * *

><p>Beep, beep, beep.<p>

The heart monitor by Rachel's bedside was the only noise in the hospital room. While the sound was a bit grating, it let Santana know the girl was alive, that she was going to be alright. The brunette refused to leave Rachel's side once she had been located and, aside from the ride to the hospital, the cheerleader had been next to the girl the entire time.

Beep, beep, beep.

The incessant monotone note broke through Rachel's unconscious mind, finally rousing her from her sleep. Santana, having been staring at the girl, saw her eyebrows furrow as she entered consciousness.

"Did you know you were anemic?" Santana asked once the girl was fully awake. Rachel shook her head side to side in confusion. "Well you are. Or you were."

"Oh."

"Do you know what people who are anemic shouldn't do?" Again, Rache's head indicated that she didn't, "Go wandering off in a forest!"

"I'm sorry I scared you, Santana."

"You didn't scare me," she huffed unconvincingly.

"Ok."

"You didn't." She said, once more failing at putting any conviction behind her words.

"I believe you," Rachel told her. She watched as Santana's eyes scrunched up and she bit her lip. "Santana, are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You're crying."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Fuck, Rachel," Santana spoke, though her voice held no venom. "I thought you died. I thought I lost you and you died."

"I'm okay," she tried to comfort the upset visitor.

"Yeah, now, but when we found you and you looked like something out of a horror movie." Santana closed her eyes, the image of Rachel's unconscious bloody figure popping into her head. "God, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you. I almost got you killed."

"Nonsense," Rachel dismissed fervently, carefully easing herself up. "If anything you're the reason I'm here right now."

"What?"

"It's nothing," she chuckled, "I just knew that I couldn't die in that cave because you would've kicked my," she looked around to make sure they were alone and then whispered the last word, "ass."

"Damn right," Santana told her as she intertwined her fingers with Rachel's.


End file.
